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# Strong start to the season has Alvirne football in uncharted territory
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/strong-start-to-the-season-has-alvirne-football-in-uncharted-territory/
- Published: 2024-09-23T16:30:05.000Z
- Updated: 2024-09-23T16:30:05.000Z
- Description: HUDSON - Matt Lee did some research before his Alvirne High School football team took the field Friday night against Timberlane. With the Broncos having won their first two games of the year, the second-year head coach was curious to find out when the program last started 3-0, if ever. Lee found th
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Alvirne, football, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, Timberlane, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

HUDSON - Matt Lee did some research before his Alvirne High School football team took the field Friday night against Timberlane.

With the Broncos having won their first two games of the year, the second-year head coach was curious to find out when the program last started 3-0, if ever.

Lee found the answer: 2004\. Alvirne started the season with three straight wins, but things didn't end well.

"I actually looked," Lee said. "That team started 3-0 and finished 3-8."

The 2024 edition of the Broncos matched their predecessors with a 48-20 win over Timberlane, but there are plenty of reasons to believe that they won't have the same finish to the season as that group 20 years ago.

That team lost its fourth game by one point, its fifth game by 18, and then scored just 34 points over its final six games. If this team were to follow the same path, it would be more of a surprise than the 3-0 start.

"They’re good in a lot of spots and that gets you to 3-0 in this league," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said after Friday's game. "Matt is doing a really good job and his staff is doing a really good job. They’re a good team."

Alvirne has one of the surprise stories of the first three weeks of the season in its offensive backfield in Mike Landmesser. The junior has scored 10 of the Broncos' 15 touchdowns this season, including five against the Owls, and he's rushed for 384 yards.

Landmesser also had an interception on defense against Timberlane and returned a fumble for a touchdown in the team's 20-13 win over Salem last week.

"We came into the season and we had four or five guys who could potentially be the starting running back," Lee said. "Mike was one of them. He quickly started to distance himself from the pack and then it was that he might not just be the starter, he might be really good. He made a huge jump from sophomore year."

The Broncos also have one of the feel-good stories in their backfield, with senior captain Charlie Crawford returning at quarterback after missing most of last year with a couple of injuries. Crawford threw for 200 yards and a touchdown against the Owls and helped lead a quick scoring drive late in the first half that catapulted Alvirne to the win.

After Timberlane scored to make it 21-20 with 1:12 left in the first half, the Broncos went 68 yards in just 38 seconds. A 42-yard completion from Crawford to Ryan Rocheleau helped set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Landmesser to make it 28-20 at halftime.

Alvirne scored on its first drive of the second half to go up 34-20 just over a minute into the third quarter, and on Timberlane's first play, Rocheleau made an incredible one-handed interception to set up a 17-yard touchdown run by Landmesser.

That made it 41-20 with under two minutes played in the third.

"Charlie Crawford did a great job with the two-minute offense," Lee said. "You’re in that in-between zone, where you don’t want to give them the ball back, so let’s see if we can get something going. That was huge and then we scored on the first drive of the second half, and all of a sudden, we’ve got a little cushion."

A cushion on the way to the program's best start in quite some time.

"It’s pretty cool," Lee said. "It’s meaningful for us, but it’s like, what’s next? No one really cares. It’s on to the next one, which is Windham, which is a good one."